Just Another Hero

Maisie sat back against the seat of the bus, unenthusiastic about the school's field trip choice. There was a reason she attended a science specific school, but the staff were apparently dead set on the class visiting the Museum of Modern Art. She didn't even get art, anyway.

"Stop pouting, some of the paintings are kinda pretty," Peter tried to stay positive, like always. His bright smile brought a grin to hers, as much as she tried to keep the frown on her face.

Maisie rolled her eyes, "I'm just gonna teleport out of there, maybe get McDonald's or something."

"What? No!" Peter argued. A thoughtful look came across his face, and he paused, leaning toward her with a whisper and a smirk, "Take me with you?"

Maisie laughed, shoving him toward the window; she knew she would. Maisie stopped when she didn't hear Peter's melodious laugh join hers. She turned to the boy, but he was looking out the window at something in the distance.

"What's the prob—oh," her voice broke as she finally saw the circular spaceship in the sky.

Peter reached his hand over the top of the bus seat, making contact with Ned's face and patting it repeatedly until he got his attention, "Ned, we need you to cause a distraction."

Maisie barely registered his words, staring in awe at the giant spaceship.

"We're all gonna die!" Ned yelped, jumping out of his seat and moving to the back of the bus. The other students followed him, leaving the front of the bus empty except for Maisie and Peter.

Peter worked fast, taking out his web shooters and the mask to his suit from his backpack. Maisie was a bit slower, fumbling around her own backpack for her own suit.

"Maisie!" Peter whisper-yelled.

Maisie realized she'd been too deep in thought, worried about what this massive starship could mean, and her head snapped up, "Yeah?"

"Get us over there," he looked over his shoulder one last time.

Maisie nodded, grabbing his hand. Peter squeezed once, nodding, and the two teleported into the action.

******

The two finally arrived on the scene suited up just in time to save Tony Stark from a massive alien from outer space. It looked like a freak of nature, all grey and drooling. Somehow, it still managed to look like a person with its two arms and legs, but Maisie wasn't sure what to do with something that huge. Peter leaped into action, jumping in front of the monstrosity and catching its hammer before it can deliver a blow that would definitely hurt.

"Hey, man," Peter greeted the alien, never one to be impolite. "What's up, Mr. Stark?"

Tony glanced over and saw Maisie ready to fight, and he looked back at Peter, "Where'd you guys come from?"

"Field trip to MoMA!" Peter yelled. The alien grabbed Spider-Man and threw him at a fountain a short distance away as he was speaking.

"Don't worry, Tony," Maisie sighed, watching Peter catch himself before getting hurt. "I really didn't wanna go to that dumb art museum anyway."

"What's this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, firing a couple webs and getting back into the fight. He used his webs to redirect a chopped in half taxi cab and slam it down on the Big Alien Guy's head. Maisie grabbed a couple knives from her belt and twirled them around in her palms, ready to poke a bunch of holes in the invader alien guy.

"He's from space," Tony explained, jumping out of the way as the attacker swung his hammer toward him again. "He came to steal a necklace from a wizard."

"Of course he did," Maisie chirped, teleporting behind, slicing at any part of the alien she could get.

As if on cue, a man flew through the air wearing a deep red cloak.

"Kids, that's the wizard, get on it!" Tony instructed, still locked in a fight with the big alien.

"On it!" Peter replied, slinging a web in the wizard's direction.

Maisie turned to Tony, "Any more evil aliens?"

"Just the two, don't let Spidey get all the action," Tony dodged the hammer, sending repulsor energy at Big Alien Guy. "He'll need all the help he can get."

"Got it," Maisie grunted, stabbing Big Alien Guy in the back one last time before teleporting to Peter's location.

She appeared just in time to watch Peter get hit with a Rocket Mortgage billboard.

"Not cool," he mumbled, only mildly inconvenienced as he shot a couple more webs in the direction of the speeding wizard and the other alien.

"Does this other alien guy have telekinesis?" Maisie asked, teleporting every once in a while to keep up with Peter as he swung through the streets of New York.

"Yeah, looks like it," Peter grunted, finally catching up to the wizard.

Spider-Man shot his webs at the man and pulled him away from the skinny, Squidward-looking alien. Maisie thought she saw a blobfish that looked just like him on the Sci-Fi channel the week before. Before the Blobfish Alien could interfere with Spider-Man escaping with the wizard, Maisie teleported in front of him, slicing at his torso with her knives. She heard a yelp come from her partner, and while momentarily distracted, her opponent used his telekinesis to push her away and toward the street below. Mischief caught herself with her teleportation, landing on her feet and scanning the area for Spider-Man.

Her eyes found him caught in a beam of blue light headed directly for the spaceship.

"Uh, Mr. Stark? Maisie? I'm being beamed up!" he called. He was too far away, still holding onto the web attached to the wizard, so Maisie only heard it over comms.

"Hang on, kid," Tony sounded like he was still fighting that other alien, and Maisie stayed on the ground, helpless.

"What do you need me to do, Peter?" she asked, her voice sounded panicked. She looked around for the Blowfish Alien and watched as he beamed himself up to his ship.

"Anything!" he called, trying not to freak out.

"God, I hate heights," Maisie whispered, and she did something she knew she would regret later.

Maisie teleported onto the outside of the spaceship.

"Maisie, tell me you did not just teleport yourself onto that ship just because Peter's up there!" Tony's voice came through as a mix of nervousness and anger. "If he jumped off a cliff—"

"I'd probably follow him, Tony," Maisie's voice wavered. The wind was almost too much for her to handle, and she pressed herself closer to the ship's surface. "You should know that by now."

"Teenagers," Tony mumbled. "Give me a little juice, FRIDAY. And unlock 17-A and B."

Maisie watched as the wizard was pulled into the spaceship. She only got a second's glance into the interior of the ship before the web connecting Peter to the wizard was severed by the door slamming shut, locking them outside. Peter was flying in the wind for a split second before Maisie appeared next to him, grabbing him around the waist and teleporting back to the ship. Peter's hands stuck to the side of the ship instantly, ensuring he wouldn't fall. Maisie didn't have the luxury of mutated cells allowing for her to stick to every surface, so she wrapped her body around Peter as he held onto her with an iron grip so there was no chance of her falling. The two were frozen, afraid to move in fear of plummeting toward the ground below.

"Kids, you gotta let go," Tony said, a note of panic to his voice. The two teens looked to one another in shock, "I'm gonna catch you."

"But you said save the wizard!" Peter objected, looking for a way into the ship.

Maisie looked around, seeing Tony out of the corner of her eye. Peter's grip on her slipped somewhat, and she tightened her grip around his neck to keep holding on, pressing her head to his chest.

"I-I can't breathe—" Peter choked out, trying to keep his grip on the ship.

Maisie reacted instantly, pulling Peter's mask off so he could breathe without the obstacle. He looked at her with wide, scared eyes, "You're gonna be okay, Pete. We're just gonna let go now, okay? Tony's gonna catch us."

Peter nodded, eyes never leaving Maisie's. She hoped that Tony wasn't wrong; she really did hate heights. Maisie reached for Peter's hand on the ship and slowly peeled it off. Then, the two were free-falling.

Maisie's heart dropped to her stomach. She looked down at the ground several hundred miles below her. Nothing was there to catch her. Before Maisie could panic too much, she watched as something hit Peter in the back before growing around him. A millisecond passed before something collided with her chest. She looked down in shock and saw a suit not unlike Iron Man's grow around her. Soon, she had her own personalized suit made with the nanotech Tony had been developing. Her jaw dropped, and this time she was glad she had a mask covering her face providing oxygen when she thought she might pass out. Before she could think to save herself from the fall, Peter latched onto her side, pulling her to the ship again using his webs.

Maisie laughed in relief as Peter commented, "Mr. Stark, it smells like a new car in here!"

"Happy trails, kids," Tony said, Maisie could hear the authority in his voice as he continued. "FRIDAY, send 'em home."

"Tony, I swear—" her empty threat interrupted by the parachutes in both of their suits went off, pulling them away from the ship and presumably back to the ground.

"Oh, come on!" Peter yelled, obviously disappointed.

The two went flying toward open sky, and Maisie crossed her arms angrily, not happy about being excluded from the action. Suddenly, Peter yelped in surprise, gaining the girl's attention.

Peter's parachute was stuck to the side of the ship, and he was hanging off of it while Maisie safely coasted toward the ground. Her eyes widened in surprise, and a million ideas raced through her mind. The boy was going to be taken into space on the outside of the ship if she didn't act fast. Maisie reached into her new belt, relieved to see it was stocked with her knives, and pulled one out.

"Peter, hold on!" she called, wondering if he could even hear her through the comms. She was getting too far away.

Then, taking a deep breath, she cut the strings of her parachute.

Only allowing herself to free fall for a moment, Maisie teleported up to Peter, holding onto him with all her strength.

"This sucks," she mumbled, cutting the strings off Peter's parachute. Even though she couldn't see the boy's face, she knew he was terrified. "Guess we're staying, then."

The girl teleported them inside the ship, landing awkwardly so Peter fell on top of her, still clutching onto her arms like a lifeline. The nanotech making up the masks of their suits came off, and they sat staring at one another for a long moment.

"We should've stayed on the bus," Peter whispered, eyes wide.

That broke the spell, and Maisie couldn't help the nervous smile on her face, "Still better than MoMA."

Peter allowed a grin and held a hand out to help her up, "Thanks, for that, you know."

"I wouldn't let you fall," Maisie smirked. "Always such a damsel in distress."

"Only for you," Peter bowed, and she laughed. He took a look around the ship, remembering where they were. "Where do you think it's going?"

"An alien planet," the humor left her voice, and she realized just how much trouble they were in. "I better not die on a planet I wasn't born on."

"Maybe you were," Peter joked. "It'd explain a lot."

Maisie elbowed him, rolling her eyes, "Let's just go find Tony, okay?

Peter nodded in response, "Yeah, he'll know what to do."

******

"He looks like he has no idea what to do," Maisie frowned, staring down at the man from the ceiling.

"He'll figure it out!" Peter defended his mentor. "He's Tony Stark!"

Tony was staring down at the Blowfish Alien, who had the wizard locked in some kind of torture device. Blowfish Alien was talking to the wizard, making threats, Maisie assumed. Tony looked lost on how to help; there wasn't much he could do about a telekinetic alien on a spaceship without any backup. Maisie's jaw dropped as a cloak without anyone wearing it tapped Tony on the shoulder, causing him to yelp in surprise.

"Jeez, you are one seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?" the man commented, always sarcastic.

Without warning, Peter dropped down from the rafters, sending an innocent smile at Tony, "Speaking of loyalty..."

"What the—" Tony's eyes widened in shock, staring at the boy. Maisie sighed and teleported to stand next to Peter. "You too?" he asked her.

"At least it wasn't a cliff," Maisie shrugged.

"I know what you're gonna say—" Peter began, but Tony interrupted.

"You should not be here!" he lectured, shaking his head.

Maisie left Peter to argue in their defense, kneeling down by the edge of the ship Tony was on. Maybe if she teleported down there, she could grab the wizard and teleport him back up to the top of the ship to safety? But then the homicidal alien would be after them again, and that's not good for anyone. So, they had to get rid of Blowfish first, she decided.

Peter sighed, "We were gonna go home, but—"

"I don't wanna hear it," Tony shook his head.

"—but it was such a long way down, and my parachute got stuck on the side of the ship—" Peter continued.

"And now I gotta hear it!" Tony crossed his arms.

"—and these suits are ridiculously intuitive by the way, so if anything, it's actually your fault that we're here," Peter tried.

"What did you say?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Peter, do yourself a favor and shut up," Maisie sighed, standing up to join them again.

"I take that back," Peter ignored her, looking rightfully apologetic.

"And now we're here in space," Maisie finished for him.

"Yeah, right where I didn't want you to be," Tony stared her down, an authoritative tone to his voice. Maisie frowned. "This isn't Coney Island. This isn't a field trip. It's one-way ticket. You hear me? Don't pretend like you thought this through. You could not have possibly thought this through."

"No, we did think this through—" Maisie argued.

"You could not have possibly thought this through—" Tony snapped.

"We did think this through!" Peter interrupted. Both Maisie and Tony turned to him, slightly shocked. He frowned, "Look, you can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there's no neighborhood."

A moment passed in silence, and Maisie felt the corners of her mouth turn upward.

"Well, okay, that didn't really make any sense, but you know what I'm trying to say," Peter sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Tony took a shaky breath in, but it was obvious that there was nothing he could do now that the two were on the ship. He couldn't force Maisie to teleport them back; there was no chance of that working. They all had to deal with the decisions they made.

"Alright, fine. We've got a situation here," Tony gestured at the ledge. Peter squatted down to look over, and Maisie crossed her arms, standing beside him. "See him down there? He's in trouble. What's your plan?"

"Um... Okay, okay," Peter studied the scene in front of him, "um..."

"We can't go after the wizard without making Blowfish Alien mad, so we need to take him out first," Maisie supplied. "Once you get past the telekinesis, he's not much. I mean, he definitely doesn't look like he does cardio, you know?"

Tony stared at her.

"You're definitely right," Peter nodded seriously, staring down at the alien and the wizard. He suddenly shot up from the ground, eyes wide, "You remember that really old movie, Aliens?"

Maisie frowned, "That movie sucked. I'm still mad you made me watch it."

"Yeah, fine," Peter rolled his eyes, "but look! If we blow a hole in the side of the ship, everything will get sucked out."

"Yeah, and us with it!" Maisie argued, shaking her head.

Tony's eyes moved back and forth between the pair.

"Mr. Stark can fly, you can teleport, and, uh—" Peter trailed off, "I'm really sticky."

Maisie crossed her arms, thinking. "What about the wizard?"

"I'll get him," Peter shrugged. "With my webs, it should be pretty easy. If I miss, you can teleport out there and grab us."

Maisie moved to run a hand through her hair before she remembered it was in a braid, and her hand froze above her head, having nowhere to go. She balled it into a fist, putting it down by her side again as she contemplated the plan.

Finally, she turned to Peter, "If you get sucked out into space, I swear, Peter Parker—"

"I won't," Peter smiled, his usual optimism shining through her usual pessimism once again.

Maisie sighed, "Fine."

The two teens turned back to Tony, who was patiently watching them with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms, "You done?"

"Yep, so we're gonna—" Peter went to explain the plan, but Tony held up a hand.

"Pete, buddy, I was standing here the whole time. Let's go," he replied. "Masks on, if we're gonna open a hole into space."

Peter and Maisie followed his orders, waiting for the man's cue. Tony jumped down from the ledge and stood a small distance away from the Blowfish Alien. Maisie teleported closer to the scene, and Peter followed, standing beside her.

"Any one of them could end your friend's life in an instant," Blowfish Alien threatened, turning around to face Tony with a sneer.

"He kinda does look like a blowfish," Peter commented.

Maisie nodded, "Right?"

"See, I gotta tell you. He's not really my friend," Tony retorted, looking nonchalant. "Saving his life is more a professional courtesy."

"You've saved nothing," Blowfish Alien smirked. "Your powers are inconsequential to mine."

Tony shrugged again, "Yeah, but the kids have seen more movies."

Iron Man's mask went on, and he shot a hole into the side of the ship. It immediately sucked Blowfish Alien out the side, and as predicted, the wizard went with him. Maisie felt herself get pulled toward the hole in the ship, but she teleported away before she could get sucked out. She watched as Peter shot a web at the wizard, holding onto him.

Her heart stopped as the piece of the ship holding him inside broke, sending him flying toward the hole to space.

"PETER!" she yelled, ready to teleport him back.

Before he could make it through, a metal contraption emerged from his suit, latching onto the edges of the hole. Maisie could breathe again, and she could've laughed when she realized what those things looked like: spider legs.

"Yes!" Peter cheered before sounding confused. "Wait, what are those?"

He used his new spider legs to jump backward, pulling the wizard with him and back into the safety of the ship. Tony quickly sprayed nanites on the hole in the ship, closing it up instantaneously. Peter landed on his real legs and stood up, breathing a sigh of relief.

Maisie teleported next to him, smacking him on the arm, "What the hell?"

"What? I saved the wizard!" Peter tried not to laugh at the annoyed look on her face.

The flying red cloak from earlier flew by them and landed around the wizard's shoulders, looking calm for a piece of outerwear.

"We need to turn this ship around," the wizard said, speaking to Tony. 

"Yeah, now he wants to run," Tony muttered. "Great plan."

"No, I want to protect the stone," the wizard retorted.

It was then that Maisie glanced down at the necklace Tony was talking about earlier. A green light emitted from it, making her uneasy.

Tony walked to the front of the ship, "And I want you to thank me. Go ahead, I'm listening."

Peter and Maisie exchanged a look.

"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?" the wizard scoffed.

"Who just saved your magical ass?" Tony replied, the usual arrogant tone seeping into his voice. "Me!"

Maisie frowned, "Technically, it was Peter."

Tony gave her a look, "You work for me, right?"

She shrugged, "Sometimes."

"I seriously don't know how you fit your head in that helmet," the wizard mocked Tony.

"Admit it," Tony turned back to him. "You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you, you refused."

"Unlike this girl and everyone else in your life, I don't work for you," the wizard retorted. Maisie frowned again.

"And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup," Tony snapped, gesturing at the ship around them.

Peter spoke up, raising his hand quickly, "We're backup!"

Maisie facepalmed.

"No, you two are stowaways," Tony pointed at them, shaking his head. "The adults are talking."

"I'm sorry, I'm confused as to the relationship here—what are they, your wards?" the wizard asked, looking somewhat puzzled.

Maisie pondered the thought for a moment, deciding it wasn't necessarily untrue in her case, "A little—"

"What? No," Peter replied, stepping forward. "Er, I'm Peter, by the way."

"Doctor Strange," the wizard replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh! We're using our made up names," Peter's eyebrows furrowed. "I'm Spider-Man, then."

A moment passed where Doctor Strange stared at Peter in a mix of annoyance and resignation.

"I'm Maisie," she wasn't sure if she was supposed to say her name or her superhero name, so she kept going. "Uh, Mischief, I guess."

Tony had enough of the introductions, pulling the attention back to the ship, "This thing is self-correcting its course. It's on autopilot."

Instead of asking how Tony could possibly know that, Maisie simply went with it. She learned to stop asking those kind of questions during her second week of the 'internship.'

"Can we control it? Fly us home?" Doctor Strange questioned.

Maisie almost mentioned that they didn't necessarily need the ship to get back home, but she stayed silent, waiting for Tony to respond first. Tony kept quiet, slowly walking past the control center. He didn't seem keen on answering the man. Peter and Maisie shared a look; Tony had an idea.

"Stark?" Doctor Strange pressed, giving him an annoyed look.

"Yeah?" Tony looked up, like he wasn't just ignoring him.

"Tony, we can go home?" Maisie spoke up, moving closer to the man. Space was scary so far, she wasn't sure she liked it so much. 

"Yeah, Maiz," he sighed. "I'm just not sure we should."

Doctor Strange stepped forward, and Maisie had to step out of the way so he wouldn't bump into her, "Under no circumstances can we take the stone to Thanos. I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here."

Peter mouthed, "Thanos?" to Maisie, but she could only shake her head in response. Who the hell was Thanos?

Tony turned on him, suddenly angry, "No, it's you who doesn't understand that Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York, and now he's back! And I don't know what to do. So, I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did and what they can do," Tony shook his head again, stepping closer as if challenging the wizard. "At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So, I say we take the fight to him, Doctor. Do you concur?"

Peter and Maisie shared a nervous look, wondering what they got themselves into. The guy behind the Battle of New York was the guy they were going to willingly seek out? It sounded like a mistake if Maisie ever heard one.

"Alright, Stark, we go to him," Strange agreed. A grim look fell upon his face, "but you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kids or the Time Stone, I will not hesitate to let any of you die. I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it."

"Nice, good. Moral compass," Tony nodded, stepping away. The man turned to the teens who watched with varying levels of nervousness. He sighed and held out his arm, formally tapping both Maisie and Peter each with the blade of his hand, mimicking the act of knighting them. "Alright, kids. You're Avengers now."

Maisie stood completely still, staring ahead at the window into space. Her heart clenched with a mix of pride and utter dread at what was to come. Despite herself, a small grin crossed her face, and she turned to look at Peter, not surprised to see a look of determination.

Peter turned to her, and Maisie reached for his hand, squeezing once.

"We've got this, right?" she mumbled.

"Well, I'm not dying yet, so..." Peter said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh, man," Maisie's eyes widened. "Ned's probably going crazy! And MJ—"

"He's gonna love this story once we get back," Peter nudged her, sitting down on the ground and leaning his back against a part of the ship. "We should definitely take Ned something back from space."

Maisie tried to smile, but she had a horrible feeling about where they were going. Almost like they weren't coming back.

"Come on," Peter held a hand up from his spot on the ground.

Maisie took it, and he pulled her into the spot next to him. She sat down, not letting go of his hand quite yet. Near death experiences tended to pull people closer together, and after everything they'd been through, they were no exception.

After a moment of staring off into space, literally, Maisie mumbled, "We'll make it back."

Something deep in Peter's heart surged, and he hoped he could help her fulfill that promise.

"Yeah, we've got homework," he replied, sending a cheeky smile her direction.

Peter glanced at her from the side, watching as Maisie chewed on her bottom lip and wrung her hands like she did when she was anxious. He didn't even realize he was staring until he felt the fond smile settle on his face.

A sudden groaning from the ship shocked Peter from his trance. With one look, Maisie could tell that his spidey-sense was acting up, and she went on high-alert. Tony and Doctor Strange were standing by the front of the ship by some steering mechanism.

"Hey, what's going on?" Maisie asked the two men.

Doctor Strange responded, frowning, "I think we're here."

"I don't think this thing has a self-park function," Tony muttered, sidling up next to a piece of the steering mechanism. "One of you, get over here."

Peter obliged, mimicking Tony's movements, "Maiz, stay back."

Maisie resisted the urge to roll her eyes and moved to stand next to Doctor Strange, looking around for anything that could be causing them other immediate sources of danger.

"Get your hand into this steering gimbal," Tony ordered, showing him with his own hand. The device closed around his arm, and Peter followed suit. "Close those around it, you got it?"

Peter nodded, "Got it."

"This was meant for one big guy, so we gotta move at the same time," Tony continued.

"Okay, ready!" Peter replied, nodding in determination. Suddenly, his eyes widened, "Uh, we might wanna turn! Turn!"

The doughnut ship was heading straight for a large star-shaped structure, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Maisie's eyes widened, and she closed her mask over her face. Doctor Strange used some sort of magic to create an orange, glowing shield around the four of them, anticipating a rough landing. The man was right; about a third of the bottom of the ship came off in the structure, ripping through the metal like it was cotton candy.

Peter's hand came loose from the steering mechanism, and Maisie grabbed his arm before he could fly off toward the ceiling. Unfortunately, he was stronger and heavier than the girl, and the two were thrown backward into the closest wall. Tony's arm came loose a moment later, but he latched onto the nearest piece of ship and held on for dear life. Annoyingly, Doctor Strange seemed to be coping fine with the crash landing, and his feet remained planted firmly on the ground.

Eventually, the ship came to a stop in what looked like dirt. Maisie pulled herself to her feet to look outside the front window of the spaceship and saw an orange sky, orange dirt, and an orange sun.

"Nice place, this is," Maisie commented, sarcasm flowing easily off her tongue.

Doctor Strange helped Tony up from the ground, and Tony asked, "You alright? That was close, I owe you one."

Maisie turned around to face them and saw Peter descend from the ceiling upside down on a string of webs. The girl crossed her arms and gave him a look.

"Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something, and I end up eating one of you, I'm sorry," Peter said, sounding heartfelt.

"Is it bad I immediately thought of like four dirty jokes I could make?" Maisie pondered aloud. Peter smirked.

Tony wasn't impressed, "I don't wanna hear another single pop culture or sexual reference out of you two for the rest of the trip, do you understand?"

"You guys, I was trying to say that something is coming," Peter interrupted, pointing behind him.

Maisie frowned, "Then why didn't you just say—"

The teenager was interrupted by a small device rolling into the middle of their group. Maisie only looked at it for a moment to decipher what it really was, and then it was too late. The small grenade let off an energy pulse, throwing the group of four in all different directions. Three people, aliens, charged onto the ship carrying their weapons and ready with a battle cry. Her mask covered her face, and she prepared to fight.

"THANOS!" the huge blue and red one yelled, throwing knives at both Doctor Strange and Maisie.

Doctor Strange blocked his with an easy flick of his wrist, using his glowing shield to catch them. Maisie's face became one of fury as she teleported out of the knife's way, letting it embed itself into the ship's wall. On the other side of the ship, Peter struggled to back away from a creepy, bug-eyed alien, and Tony grappled with a seemingly human man.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Please don't put your eggs in me!" Peter exclaimed, shooting a couple webs to incapacitate the woman alien. Tony's opponent noticed Peter's shooting and left him long enough to kick Peter in the stomach, pushing him away from the woman.

"Stay down, clown!" the man yelled, pointing a gun at Peter.

Maisie teleported in front of him, kicking the gun's aim off course. The man managed to get a shot off, and Peter ended up rolling across the floor with electrical shock cords wrapped around him. Maisie fought with the man, sending kicks and punches in every which way, teleporting out of the line of fire when he held up his gun. She teleported once more, landing on the side opposite from Peter, but to her surprise, the man stopped fighting her, instead reaching down to grab Peter in a headlock and hold a gun to his head.

Maisie looked around, seeing the huge blue and red guy from earlier with the flying red cloak wrapped around his head, incapacitating him before flying off and rejoining its master. Tony held a blaster to his head, holding him in place, and Doctor Strange held up his hands, making the glowing shield she saw earlier. The bug-eyed alien remained webbed up and out of the fight, but Maisie jumped forward and held a knife to her throat, shooting daggers with her eyes at the man holding Peter.

"Alright, everybody, chill the 'F' out!" the man holding Peter said, reaching up with his blaster arm to open up his helmet.

Maisie was slightly surprised to see her hypothesis that he was human to be confirmed, and was even more confused that she had the faintest, odd feeling that she recognized him. She gripped her hostage tighter.

"I'm gonna ask you this one time, where's Gamora?" he glared at everyone in the room.

Maisie turned her head to look at Tony, but he didn't look any less confused, "Yeah, I'll do you one better: who's Gamora?"

"I'll do you one better! Why is Gamora?" the big blue and red guy retorted, apparently trying to be threatening. Maisie wondered what the hell was going on in that guy's head.

"Tell me where the girl is or I swear to God, I'm going to French-fry this little freak!" the man pushed his blaster closer to Peter's head.

Maisie growled, "Try it, and I'll kill you so fast you won't even see me coming."

The man's eyes flicked to the girl at her words, looking appropriately threatened. Even Peter's eyes widened, feeling chills run through his body at the thought of Maisie killing for him.

Tony's voice retorted sharply, "Yeah, let's do it! You shoot my guy, I'll blast him!"

Tony's repulsor shifted into an even bigger gun, if that were even possible, and Maisie tightened her grip on the bug-eyed alien.

"Do it, Quill," the big blue and red guy said, nodding. "I can take it!"

Maisie's eyebrows furrowed, Quill?

"No, he can't take it!" the bug-eyed woman yelled, struggling in Maisie's grasp.

"She's right, he can't," Doctor Strange agreed.

"Oh, yeah? You don't wanna tell me where she is? That's fine, I'll kill all four of you and beat it out of Thanos myself!" the man, Quill, spat, turning to Peter. "Starting with you."

Maisie's eyes widened at his words, "Wait, wait! Thanos? You wanna beat Thanos?"

Doctor Strange noticed the same thing, trying to clarify, "Let me ask you this: what master do you serve?"

Quill scoffed, "What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say, Jesus?"

Tony started to get it, frowning, "You're from Earth?"

"I'm not from Earth, I'm from Missouri," Quill snapped back, shocking Maisie even more. Quill, Missouri... Her eyes widened, that couldn't be a coincidence.

"That's on Earth, dipshit!" Tony almost yelled. "What are you hassling us for?"

"So, you're not with Thanos?" Peter finally spoke up, his voice quiet.

"With Thanos?" Quill sounded exasperated. "No, I'm here to kill Thanos, he took my girl. Wait, who are you guys?"

Peter's mask came off, and he looked proud as he replied, "We're the Avengers, man."

"Oh," Quill replied, slowly letting Peter go.

Maisie noticed that Peter was free and let her own hostage go, unmasking herself in the process. Her gaze lingered on Quill longer than it should've, and she was confused to see that he was looking at her, too.

The bug-eyed woman alien immediately spoke up, "You're the ones Thor told us about!"

Tony rubbed a hand across his face, exasperation evident in his voice, "You know Thor?"

"Yeah, tall guy, not that good-looking, needed saving," Quill rattled off.

Peter wrinkled his nose in confusion, and Maisie scoffed and shook her head. The two teens moved to stand next to one another, still wary of the newcomers.

"We must be talking about two different 'Thor's," Maisie sighed, flipping her braid over her shoulder.

Quill shot her a look and moved to retort, but he stayed silent when he looked at her again. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he opened his mouth, but Doctor Strange beat him to it.

"Where is he now?" he asked.

"He went to Nivadellir, a forge in the heart of a dying star to get a weapon that can kill Thanos," Quill replied, eyes flicking back to Maisie.

"Sure, okay," Tony nodded, shrugging as if that were the most normal thing he'd heard all day. He turned to Peter and Maisie, "What do you think, kids? Wanna go see what this planet has to offer?"

"I'm not sure if we've run out of field trip jokes, Mr. Stark," Peter began, "but this really does beat the MoMA."

Maisie smiled, "Finally, he admits it."

******

As soon as she walked outside the ship, Maisie stumbled. Strong hands grabbed her around the waist to hold her steady, and she thanked Peter with a grateful smile. She got the hang of walking for a bit with the help of him remaining close by. Then, Maisie took the chance to investigate her surroundings.

All Maisie saw was orange. Orange was her least favorite color. Structures that might've once been buildings or monuments were now reduced to crumbling messes littering the planet. Peter Quill, or Starlord as he'd told everyone to call him, explained that it was called Titan, and it was Thanos' home.

Maisie kept glancing in Quill's direction, trying to convince herself that the fact that the man with the same last name from the same place as her mother was a coincidence. But the way that he looked at her, almost like he was recognizing someone he used to know, Maisie got the feeling it was something more than that.

"I know it's only been about four hours, but I really miss Earth," Peter remarked, staring at the planet in distaste.

Maisie sighed, nodding, "I won't be calm until my feet touch down on my own planet, that's for sure."

"The heck happened here?" Quill, Starlord, asked, holding a small device in his hands. "This planet's eight degrees off its axis. Gravitational pull is all over the place."

Maisie nodded in understanding, at least she knew why she kept stumbling around so much. She hoped she could get the hang of it before the inevitable fight. She turned around and saw the bug-eyed woman, Mantis, jumping up and down as though she were on a trampoline. Peter and Maisie exchanged looks, and Maisie was proud she didn't have to tell the boy not to join Mantis in jumping around the low-gravity spot.

"Yeah, we got one advantage: he's coming to us," Tony began, making it obvious he was about to start coming up with a plan of action. Maisie and Peter stepped closer, prepared to listen. "All right, I have a plan, or at least the beginnings of one. It's pretty simple. We draw him in, pin him down, get what we need. Definitely don't wanna dance with this guy. We just want the gauntlet."

The sound of yawning messed with the overall effectiveness of Tony's speech, and the man turned to look at Drax, the blue and red guy, in exasperation.

"Are you yawning?" he asked. "In the middle of this, while I'm breaking it down? Huh? Did you hear what I said?"

Peter looked over at Drax as though he were a student being reprimanded by their teacher. Maisie simply crossed her arms with a smirk.

"I stopped listening after you said 'we need a plan,'" Drax replied. Points for honesty.

Tony scoffed, turning to Quill, "Okay, so Mr. Clean is on his own page."

"See, 'not winging it' isn't really what they do," Quill explained.

"Uh, what is it exactly that they do?" Peter asked, pointing at the two of them. Maisie raised an eyebrow, waiting for a response.

Mantis provided one, "Kick names. Take ass."

Tony, Peter, and Maisie stood, shocked into a collective moment of silence.

Eventually, Tony spoke, shaking the dread from his mind, "Alright, Mr. Lord, would you get your folks to circle up?"

"'Mr. Lord,'" Quill scoffed. "Starlord is fine, thanks."

He motioned for the two to join up in the circle, and Tony started again, "Look, we gotta coalesce. Because if all we come at him with is a plucky attitude—"

"Dude, don't call us plucky," Quill interrupted, shaking his head. "We don't know what it means. Alright, we're optimistic, yes. I like your plan. Except it sucks, so let me do the plan, and that way it might be really good."

Peter's and Maisie's heads moved back and forth between the two like they were watching tennis. We're doomed, Maisie thought.

Drax nodded, "Tell them about the dance-off to save the universe!"

"A dance-off?" Tony asked, feeling even more unprepared to fight Thanos.

"It's... uh, nothing," Quill tried to brush it off, knowing it wasn't going to do much for his credibility.

"Like in Footloose? The movie?" Peter asked, happy to interject with a movie reference whenever the time presented itself.

"Peter—" Maisie tried, exasperated and shaking her head.

"Exactly like Footloose!" Quill looked at Peter excitedly. "Is it still the best movie of all time?"

Peter and Maisie responded at the same time, incredulously, "It never was."

The two high-fived, bringing a reluctant smirk to Tony's face as he spoke up, "Don't encourage this, alright?"

"Okay," Peter agreed, but Maisie only shrugged.

"We're getting no help from Flash Gordon here," Tony referenced, and Maisie wondered if Peter's ban on pop culture references was lifted if Tony kept making them.

"Flash Gordon? By the way, that's a compliment," Quill retorted, pointing at the three of them. "Don't forget, I'm half-human, so that 50% of me that's stupid? That's 100% you."

"Your math is blowing my mind," Tony rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me," Mantis spoke up, her voice questioning. "Does your friend often do that?"

The group looked over and saw Doctor Strange sitting cross-legged, floating slightly above the ground with his hands poised in a weird gesture. Maisie and Peter exchanged a nervous glance at the man's rapid head movements and green glowing energy surrounding him and the necklace with the Time Stone. His eyes were closed, but his brows were furrowed in concentration as though he were looking for something.

"Strange?" Tony asked, moving closer. He stuck out his hands as though to calm him. "You alright?"

A second later, he fell out of his trance and landed hard back on the ground. Maisie teleported over and caught him before he could hit the ground, and he sent her a quick nod of thanks.

"Hey, what was that?" Peter asked, joining the two in front of Strange.

"I went forward in time," Strange answered, panting, "to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict."

A moment passed in shock, wondering when a time-traveling wizard with an infinity stone became their new normal. Probably around the time her teleportation and timeline traveling powers became normal.

"How many did you see?" Quill asked.

"Fourteen million six hundred and five," Strange responded, not looking up from the Time Stone around his neck.

Maisie felt her insides turn to lead, "How many did we win?"

When Doctor Strange moved to answer, he didn't look at her. His eyes trained on Tony, a meaningful, grim expression on his face, "One."

******

The makeshift team went over the plan several times, ensuring that everyone knew what to do. Maisie tried not to think about the fact that the fate of the entire universe was on their shoulders. They couldn't let Thanos escape. They couldn't screw it up.

Doctor Strange waited in plain sight for the titan, and the others were sent to various, calculated hiding spots to wait out Thanos' arrival. Spider-Man was watching from the ruins of what might've been a building. Iron Man waited from atop an old ship, ready to send it down on Thanos when the time came. Starlord, Mantis, and Drax remained on the ground, but Mantis was meant to stay out of the fight until Doctor Strange called upon her or Mischief appeared to grab her.

Maisie was having trouble sitting still. She appeared next to Peter, looking over the top of the building, and she took a deep breath, wringing her hands.

"Hey," Peter's nanotech mask came off for a moment, and Maisie could see his eyes. His eyebrows furrowed, a look of concern crossing his face, "Are you okay?"

Maisie nodded, gritting her teeth. Her own mask came off once she placed a confident, determined look on her face. She balled her hands into fists, "I will be."

The two locked eyes, a million thoughts and emotions ran through them. They were on a distant planet, surrounded by aliens and a wizard, and they were meant to destroy an evil titan who's hellbent on eliminating half of the universe. And, they were both only sixteen and seventeen years old.

"When we get back," Peter cleared his throat, looking more nervous than before, if that were even possible, "well, I was just wondering, er, before the spaceship and everything with all the aliens and the wizards and the other aliens I was gonna ask you... if you wanted to go to prom with me?"

Maisie stared at him, at his hopeful, beautiful, brown-eyed face. Then, she couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. Of all the things she was expecting to come out of Peter's mouth right before a life or death battle, this wasn't it. 

Peter's nervous expression shifted into one that looked as though he wished he was dead, and Maisie knew she had to speak up before he dug himself deeper into his emotional hole of despair.

"Well," she shook her head, "I don't see how anyone's going to beat 'getting asked to prom on a distant planet.'"

Peter perked up, amusement gracing his features, "Is that a yes?"

"Of course," Maisie shook her head, smiling brightly at the look of elation on the boy's face. "Now, I don't know if you remember, but there's an evil villain coming to kill us all, and we need to save the universe."

"I'm glad one of you remembered," Tony's voice crackled through the comms. Maisie and Peter froze, blushes creeping up on both of their faces. "I was afraid I'd have to come over there and ruin that beautiful moment."

"I thought the comms didn't work on a different planet," Peter mumbled, barely audible.

"My tech always works, kid," Tony replied. Maisie could hear the smile on his face as he continued. "Now get ready, both of you. Won't be much longer and I like the two of you too much for you to be caught up in your hormones when the lord of the Underworld arrives."

"Aw, Tony," Maisie smirked, making Peter shake his head. "I knew you loved us."

"Get in position," Tony's voice lowered, and the seriousness in his tone snapped the two kids back to reality.

Maisie and Peter leaned over the side of the building and watched as a purple man whose size rivaled the Hulk's looked around the orange planet. Instantly, the two's masks were up, and they crouched down to hide their bodies from Thanos' view. Thanos was smaller than she thought he would be, but she attributed that to the fact that he was several feet away and below the building she was hiding on. Doctor Strange spoke to him, but the teens couldn't hear, still waiting for the signal.

Maisie felt pressure on her left hand, and she turned her head to see Peter resting his hand over hers. Avengers, she remembered. They were Avengers now. Peter nodded once, and Maisie reciprocated the movement. Time to work for a living.

Doctor Strange's glowing shields appeared, and he stepped into a defensive stance. That was the signal. Then, all hell broke loose.

Iron Man pushed the old spaceship down hard, right on top of the titan.

"Piece of cake, Quill," Tony's voice echoed through Maisie's ears.

"Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off!" Quill replied, tapping his mask. He started running, and used the blasters on his feet to jump into the air.

The spaceship on top of Thanos was destroyed in an explosion of purple light. Thanos stood, a guttural yell escaping him as he held up a golden gauntlet with four glittering stones decorating the fingers. Using the red stone, he turned the destroyed ship into several thousand flying bats and sent them barreling toward Iron Man's flying figure. Maisie guessed that the red one was the Reality Stone, then.

"Maisie, we've gotta go!" Peter called, standing atop the edge of the building.

Maisie looked up, determination flowing through her entire body. Then, Peter jumped, swinging his way toward Thanos with incredible speed.

Mischief teleported into the action just before him, swiping at Thanos' legs with her knives grasped firmly in her hands. The girl disappeared again before he could react. Thanos was hit with Spider-Man's webs and with a punch from him a second later. Drax sprinted from nowhere, using a long blade to slice at Thanos' arm. Doctor Strange stepped out from a portal, creating a baton with his glowing orange magic. Mischief appeared again, dropping into a flip and kicking Thanos in the face.

Then, Thanos peeled the webbing off his face, throwing it away as he used his other hand to punch the girl away from him. She landed several feet away, wincing at the pain. Starlord flew in as Doctor Strange was losing his one-on-one versus Thanos, and the wizard threw a couple glowing shields as stepping stones for him as he flipped over Thanos' head and stuck an electrical explosion device on his back. Starlord landed on his feet, tapped his mask so Thanos could see his face, and sent a middle finger up to the titan as he jumped backward into one of Doctor Strange's portals.

"Don't let him close his fist," Doctor Strange whispered to his cloak, and it raced toward Thanos, covering the gauntlet so he couldn't use it.

Mischief pulled herself to her feet, taking a breath, and she raced back into the action. Doctor Strange stood off from the side, creating portals from where Spider-Man jumped through, landing punches and kicks to the purple titan. She joined him without a second thought.

"Magic!" Peter exclaimed, landing a punch to his face. "More magic!" Flip kick to the stomach. "Magic with a kick!" A kick to Thanos' face. "Magic with a—"

Thanos reached up and grabbed Spider-Man by the throat, throwing him down to the ground, "Insect."

Mischief's eyes narrowed, and she teleported on top of Thanos' head. She swung down, pulling his hand away from Spider-Man's throat. He released the boy immediately, focusing on her instead.

"Technically, he's an arachnid," Maisie teleported again, down low with a slice to the kneecaps, Tonya Harding style.

She teleported around him, slicing any part of the body she could reach. Thanos cried out, though out of pain or annoyance, she wasn't sure. Spider-Man got up, and Mischief landed next to him.

"You children are no match for me," the titan growled. He ripped the cloak off the gauntlet, throwing it away.

Mischief teleported away as Spider-Man was backhanded toward Doctor Strange, sending them both flying into the hard rock surrounding the fight. Taking a breath, Maisie checked to see if Peter was alright. The two looked up as fire surrounded Thanos, courtesy of Iron Man arriving back on the scene. It didn't last long as Thanos used the infinity stones to create a vacuum of fire, sending it back in the direction it came. The two teens jumped back into the action as they watched Iron Man crash into one of Titan's ruined structures.

Spider-Man shot a web at the gauntlet, swinging around and landing on the other side in an attempt to pull it off Thanos' arm. The titan simply pulled back on the web, yanking Spider-Man to him and sending a punch to his stomach. The boy was sent flying once again, and Mischief teleported to save him from slamming his head on a rock.

It turned out to be the right decision; if she had stayed to fight Thanos instead of teleporting off to save Spider-Man's butt yet again, she would've been hit by the incoming spaceship.

Out of the wreckage came an electrical blade wielding blue alien who looked more robot than person.

"Nebula," Thanos growled.

"You should've killed me," the blue alien, Nebula, spat.

"It would've been a waste of parts!" Thanos roared.

She charged, attacking the titan with the blade, "Where's Gamora?"

Thanos didn't answer, instead throwing a punch that sent her flying into the rubble behind her.

Maisie turned to Peter, who was recalibrating after the blow to the head, "Time to go."

Doctor Strange was keeping him busy, using a different kind of magic Maisie hadn't seen before. He had ropes around Thanos' gauntlet and was pulling to keep him from closing his fist. Drax appeared again, kicking the titan in the back of the knee and forcing him to kneel. Starlord threw another electrical device, catching Thanos' other arm and pulling it away so he was completely incapacitated.

"Help get his other arm," Maisie told Peter, and she teleported back in to help.

Spider-Man used his webs, following her orders, and pulled Thanos in the direction opposite the gauntlet. Iron Man arrived next to Doctor Strange's ropes which disappeared as he tried to pull the gauntlet off of Thanos.

Spider-Man struggled holding Thanos' weight by himself, but when Mischief moved to help, the spider legs erupted from his suit, holding him in place.

Doctor Strange used his ropes again to help Spider-Man, and he looked to Mischief, "Mantis."

The girl didn't hesitate, disappearing and reappearing again to drop Mantis on Thanos' shoulders before flipping away so she wouldn't disrupt the trap they put him in. Mantis placed both hands on either side of Thanos' face, squeezing her eyes shut as she concentrated on putting the titan to sleep. After a moment, his eyes clouded over, and he stopped resisting.

"Is he under? Don't let up," Tony ordered, pulling on the gauntlet. It just wouldn't come off.

"Be quick!" Mantis groaned under the amount of strength she was using to keep Thanos down. "He's very strong..."

"McCall! Come over here, we gotta get this thing off," Tony instructed, and Maisie rushed over, helping to pull on the gauntlet.

"I thought you'd be hard to catch," Quill smirked, his mask came off as he approached Thanos. He stood smug in front of the titan, looking over at Tony, "For the record, this was my plan."

Maisie fought rolling her eyes, but she was too busy yanking on the gauntlet. Why the hell wouldn't it come off?

"Where's Gamora?" Quill demanded, glaring at Thanos.

"My Gamora..." Thanos replied, foggy from Mantis' powers.

"Oh, bullshit!" Quill snapped, stepping closer. "Where is she?"

"He is in anguish!" Mantis spoke up, wincing.

"Good!" Quill glared.

"Come on, come on, come on," Maisie mumbled, pulling on the gauntlet with as much force as she could muster.

"He—he mourns!" Mantis finished, tears welling in her eyes.

"What does this monster have to mourn?" Drax retorted.

"Gamora," Nebula realized. Every eye landed on her, she continued, looking down. "He took her to Vormir. He came back with the soul stone, she didn't."

Quill looked at her, astonished. He slowly turned to face Thanos, the one who killed his girl. Knowing where this was going, Tony took his mask off.

"Okay, Quill, you gotta cool it right now, you understand?" he commanded. Quill didn't look at him, only glaring at Thanos. "Don't engage, we've almost got this off!"

Maisie started pulling even harder, her muscles straining under the pressure.

"Tell me she's lying," Quill demanded. "Tell me you didn't do it!"

"I... had to," Thanos muttered, a tear leaking out of his own eye.

"No, you didn't," Quill took a step back, shaking his head. Then, he did one of the stupidest things Maisie can remember anyone doing in the history of her entire life. He started to hit Thanos. "NO, YOU DIDN'T!"

Tony let go of the gauntlet, racing forward to hold Quill back, but the damage was done. Mantis let go of Thanos' head, unable to keep up the strain of holding him under. Maisie felt something shift among the chaos, and the fingers of the gauntlet come loose.

"I-I've almost got it!" she could feel the gauntlet coming off, and hope blossomed in her chest as she saw Thanos' empty hand.

Then, he came back to reality. The titan grabbed the end of gauntlet before Mischief could pull it away, and he had the infinity stones in his grasp once again. Thanos threw Mantis over his shoulder, and Spider-Man leaped into action to catch her before she crash landed. She was unconscious before she could hit the ground. Mischief teleported away before he could even think of landing a punch on her.

Thanos threw Doctor Strange away using his ropes and swiftly kicked Drax, Starlord, and Nebula aside. Iron Man flew in with his nanotech missiles, but the titan punched them away as though they were nothing. He used the Power Stone on Drax, Starlord, and Nebula, rendering them unconscious.

Mischief appeared next to Iron Man, and the two flew into battle side by side. Iron Man constructed an electric blade, charging at Thanos, and Mischief teleported to his other side, using her knives to mess with his focus. It was obvious that the little blades did close to nothing to Thanos, but Maisie knew that if you stabbed someone enough times, they bled.

Thanos threw Iron Man to the ground again, but he didn't leave it there. In a show of strength, the titan reached up using both the Power and Space Stones and summoned one of Titan's moons.

Tony and Maisie stared up in a moment of awe at the celestial body that was starting to rain down on them. The girl reached over, teleporting the older superhero somewhere safe. The moon crash landed on the planet, disrupting the ground level, and Maisie watched in horror as Drax, Quill, and Nebula were thrown into the air with nothing to stop them. She looked at Tony, who gave her a nod of support, and she teleported away to help.

Mischief leaped into action, grabbing and teleporting Drax to safety on the ground a good distance from where Thanos was fighting Doctor Strange. Spider-Man used his webs to catch Nebula and he set her down near Drax as Mischief saved Quill, as much as she wanted to punch him for messing up the plan. Spider-Man set an unconscious Mantis next to them, gasping for air.

Maisie let her mask go down, also struggling to breathe. She had cuts just above her eye and on her cheekbone that left trails of blood down the side of her face. Her head was pounding, from pressure, adrenaline, or unrelenting fear, she wasn't sure. Probably a combination of them all. The world around her was a battlefield, it was a war, and she wasn't confident she was on the winning side.

The feeling of dread she felt when she arrived was suddenly much, much worse.

"Maisie!" Peter said, grabbing onto her shoulders. His mask was down, too, and he had a wild, scared look in his eyes. "Come on, we've gotta go! We've gotta keep—"

Her hands were shaking so much she wasn't sure if they'd ever stop, "Pete, I don't know if I can—"

"You can," he interrupted, shaking his head. His heart ached at her pained face, trying to find comfort in her eyes. Peter grabbed her hands, "You're literally the strongest person I've ever met. You can do this. We can do this. We have to."

Maisie's eyes flicked up to meet his, and she saw the usual look of determination. Even though she knew he was scared, Peter still faced these impossible odds with the strength to do what's right. How could one person be so brave?

Maisie knew it then, but she didn't say it. She'd regret it later, but she didn't say it. Instead, she took in the image of his face, an expression so strong amidst everything falling apart, and closed the gap between them.

The girl reached up and pulled his face to hers, kissing him with all that she had. They basked in that one moment of pure bliss amidst the chaos that they knew would just keep coming. It was short, but it was everything they needed.

Maisie pulled away, taking a shaky breath with her forehead still pressed to his, "Okay."

Peter stared at her in shock, "I-I—"

Maisie took in the sight of Peter Parker staring at her with his jaw dropped, and her lips tilted up into a sad smile. He blinked, and she was gone.

She reappeared at the scene of battle just in time to see Tony Stark get a knife shoved through his stomach.

"NO!" Maisie yelled, racing forward. She'd never been happier that Peter was far away from the action as Thanos turned to look at her.

"Mais—" Tony protested, but Thanos had already seen her.

Mischief leaped up and teleported once she was within striking distance, appearing on his other side and aiming her favorite knife toward Thanos' head. The titan stepped to the side, predicting her attack, and she landed without enough time to teleport. Thanos smirked at her, taking the knife from Tony and aiming it toward the girl's heart.

Maisie's eyes widened in fear, and her instincts kicked in. She tried to teleport away, but something happened. Thanos held up the gauntlet, and the blue Space Stone glowed. She couldn't move, caught between teleportation and her normal state. The image of her was flashing in and out, and the pain was so intense that she didn't know how to stop it. Thanos held the knife up again, ready to end the girl's life once and for all.

"Stop!" Doctor Strange called, his voice resolute. "Spare their lives, and I will give you the stone."

Thanos turned, acknowledging the wizard, "No tricks?"

Doctor Strange shook his head, giving Tony a meaningful look.

"Don't—" Tony tried. He grimaced in pain.

Thanos looked down at Maisie, who remained flashing in and out of focus as though she were a glitching computer screen, then back at Doctor Strange. Maisie squeezed her eyes shut as she couldn't manage to hold back a pained scream, and she bit down so hard on her lip she drew blood. She felt like every particle of her body was moving in all different directions, ripping her body apart. She couldn't even think, all she could feel was pain.

The wizard held out his hand, then plucked a glowing green stone out of thin air as though it'd been there the whole time. Tony watched in horror as Doctor Strange sent the Time Stone into Thanos' waiting hand. Thanos gave him a smirk, and ever so swiftly added it to his collection.

He felt the power of the Time Stone run through him, "One to go."

An energy blast hit Thanos' gauntlet, forcing him to look up at his attacker. Starlord came into view, guns blazing.

Spider-Man was close behind him, and when he saw the girl phasing in and out at Thanos' feet, he cried out, "Maisie!"

Thanos didn't wait around to fight. He used the Space Stone one last time, and he was gone.

As soon as Thanos disappeared, Maisie returned to her normal solid state, and she started to regain feeling in her body. She gasped for breath, choking on air as she tried to ignore the way that the planet was spinning in her eyes. Peter landed next to her, his mask coming off instantly as he searched for any sign of visible injury. Maisie lifted her head a half an inch to meet his eyes. Her strength had vanished, and Thanos had done it so easily. Seeing her in that way, Peter felt his heart break.

Quill de-helmeted, "Where is he?"

Tony looked down at his stab wound, wincing as he used his nanotech to seal it up. He and Strange regarded one another, but Tony looked physically sick when recalling what the wizard did to save his life.

"Did we just lose?" Quill breathed, not knowing where the Time Stone was.

Maisie sat up with Peter's help, focusing on breathing. She hadn't been that scared since the explosion at the SHIELD facility so many years ago when she first got her powers. Thanos was one second away from ending her life, until...

"Why would you do that?" Tony asked, his voice fragile.

Doctor Strange gave him a meaningful look, "We're in the endgame now."

Maisie didn't know what that meant, and judging by the look on Peter's face, he didn't either.

"Can you stand?" Peter asked, holding out a hand.

Maisie hesitated, but she leaned forward onto her feet, allowing Peter to pull her into an upright position. She stumbled, but he caught her easily, holding her up.

"What happened? One second you were there, and then..." Peter frowned.

Maisie leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder, "I wanted us to win."

Mantis, Nebula, and Drax appeared, having finally dragged themselves to the rest of the group's location. They looked beaten, but hopeful. Upon finding Thanos gone and the state of everyone else, that look disappeared rather quickly.

"What's gonna happen now?" Maisie whispered, fear etched on her face.

Everyone heard her, they just didn't know what to say. Tony pulled himself to his feet, wincing as he did so. Peter stepped toward him to help, but when Maisie almost collapsed without his weight supporting her, he returned to his position.

A quiet voice broke the silence, "Something... is happening..."

They all turned to see Mantis turn to dust before their eyes. Quill, who'd been holding her upright, grasped at thin air. She was just... gone?

Drax's eyes widened, "Quill?"

As Quill watched, Drax turned to ash, flying away in the wind.

Peter's grip around Maisie tightened, looks of horror etched on one another's faces. She pulled herself even closer to him, if that were even possible. Peter felt the soft tickle of Maisie's hair against his cheek, the only thing grounding him in that moment.

"Steady, Quill," Tony tried, watching the man's realization at what he lost.

"Oh, man," he replied, and he was gone, too.

Maisie realized she was crying, tears involuntarily streaming down her cheeks as she waited for the inevitable. The worst thing was, she wasn't even worried about her own demise. The girl wrapped her arms around Peter's neck, and he held her close, eyes wide in shock and confusion. Is this what Thanos had done? Erased them all from existence without a trace? How were they supposed to fight this?

Maisie squeezed her eyes shut, imagining a world where they won.

"Tony," Doctor Strange spoke up behind her, "there was no other way."

She could only imagine that he dusted, too. She didn't want to look. She just wanted to pretend as if the last twenty-four hours didn't happen at all. She was still a kid; they were supposed to be on a field trip...

Maisie's muscles tensed. Her heart skipped a beat. Her hair stood up on the back of her neck. Then, she felt it.

She pulled back from Peter, almost frantic as she looked at him, "Peter, I—"

And then, Maisie McCall was gone, her last words taken from her.

Tony watched in horror as the girl disappeared, helpless to do anything about it. Maisie was his responsibility. That girl was his to look after, the closest thing he had to a daughter—and now she was gone, all because he couldn't get the job done. All because he had failed.

Peter felt the dust on his fingertips, his chest, his face. She was just there, and then she wasn't. Peter started to shake, feeling suffocated, and tears welled in his eyes. He shook his head, not willing to accept it. He couldn't accept it. He couldn't.

"She—Mr. Stark?" he looked over. Quiet tears had begun to fall from Peter's eyes. Tony took a step closer, noticing how close Peter was to a breakdown, as if he weren't already there. "S-She's gone, Mr. Stark. What do I do? What do we do? I don't know what to do, I just—"

Peter's eyes widened. A horrible feeling rushed through his body, and he knew he was going, too.

"Mr. Stark, I-I don't feel so good," Peter said, stumbling closer to the man.

"You're alright," Tony tried to comfort him, but his eyes looked upon Peter in terror. Not another one, he thought. God, please don't let me lose them both.

"I don't know—I don't know what's happening," Peter stuttered, looking at his hands as though they were about to disintegrate. He stepped forward, falling into Tony's arms, "I-I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go!"

He fell backward, and Tony caught him, laying him down on the ground. Peter had stopped sobbing, but silent tears still streamed down his pale cheeks. He looked upon his mentor, knowing he'd blame himself for both him and Maisie, not to mention everyone else that disappeared, too.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Peter's dust floated away in the wind.

The man of iron sat back against the hard ground, heart aching.

The only person left was Nebula, and she spoke grimly, "He did it."

Tony sat silent, mourning, and he tried not to think about everyone still back on Earth.